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SS August 2016

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SMOKESHOP August 2016
was probably not going to be accepted
in Europe because it was too heavy a
tobacco and at that time in Europe they
were using lighter and thinner leaves.
My father told the man, on his way
back, stop in and we'll see where it goes.
He did and eventually my father went
to Nicaragua after being invited by this
gentleman. Dad then traveled to the
farms and met with President Somoza
who asked my father about the tobacco
and what he thought. My father said it
was the second coming of Cuba, it was
great tobacco and Somoza should contin-
ue the project. Somoza had started this
project of growing tobacco in Nicaragua
but there wasn't a market for it.
So Somoza basically had to create a
market for it; that was the problem, be-
cause it was not easy. My father saw the
opportunity and for him it was a perfect
thing because he was starting off here
in Miami and needed tobacco. Not only
did Somoza have the quantity my father
needed, but he also had the quality so it
was perfect. My father was actually the
first person to import Nicaraguan leaf
into the United States for production.
SMOKESHOP: You were still producing
cigars in Miami, but when did you start
moving to Nicaragua?
PADRÓN: Around 1970. He still had
the factory here but shifted produc-
tion to Nicaragua and little by little
phased out the production here. It was
obviously a very complicated time in
Nicaragua because of the war but my
dad did have the benefit in that he was
not involved in politics in Nicaragua
with Somoza. He was very appreciative
of what Somoza did, but they never
had any partnerships and that helped
him tremendously during the civil war
because the people knew he was not
involved in politics.
My dad approached Nicaragua
based on the advice he got from his
grandfather who said never mix busi-
ness and politics. Somoza's people did
approach my dad and wanted him to
open up a factory with them, but he
remembered the advice and said no.
Besides, he liked being on his own.
That was a good thing because [the
revolutionaries] remembered he wasn't
involved with Somoza and people
respected my dad, but still the factory
was burned down. It wasn't the Sand-
inistas, but more like looting and such
that took place during the war. He had
already moved [some] tobacco into dif-
ferent warehouses [when] they burned
the entire factory with bales of tobacco
inside as well as another warehouse,
but he had spread out tobacco into
other areas of Nicaragua. He was able
to reopen a makeshift factory a month
and a half later to get the production
rolling again.
SMOKESHOP: The war in Nicaragua
forced many cigar makers to leave the coun-
try. Did you move too?
PADRÓN: Yes, we eventually opened
a factory in Honduras, around 1979,
because of the problems that were
continuing in Nicaragua. Then when
the embargo hit in 1985 we shifted all
the production to Honduras and closed
the Nicaraguan operation. In 1990 the
embargo ended and we went back to
Nicaragua. We maintained the Hon-
duras factory until 2007. It just wasn't
cost efficient because all of our tobaccos
CIGARMAKER Q&A
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